A Chance for Change: Year One
by Brainy Smelt
Summary: Boxing Day 1979 - A few members of the Order of the Phoenix receive and read a book that could change their whole future.  For better or for worse?
1. Boxing Day 1979

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is a story about the Harry Potter characters reading the books and is hopefully a little different than most. Please review and let me know your thoughts! This first chapter is sort of a teaser. ~ Lynn**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Boxing Day - December 1979**

On the day after Christmas, a large group of people was gathered inside the Potter Manor. To an outsider, it would seem like an innocuous meeting. Simply a group of friends gathering to celebrate the holiday but, as was the case with many things during that particularly dreary time period, that was only a cover story. In reality, a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix was taking place in the Potter ancestral home. Due to the festive season only a a fraction of the Order was attending, several of which were staying there. Nevertheless, the house was given as much protection as possible to avoid any prying eyes or ears. Several silencing charms, an anti-Apparition charm, an Intruder Alarm that would warn them if a wizard came within 10 yards of the garden limits and a Muggle repelling charm.

At the moment, the people inside the house were scattered around the sitting and dining rooms in small groups. Lily and James Potter, owners of the house, had taken the love seat and were talking quietly. James had his arms around his wife while she was leaning against his chest and they both seemed almost oblivious to the rest of the group. Across from them, Alice and Frank Longbottom sat in an almost identical way, the only difference being that one of Frank's hands was laying protectively over their unborn child in an almost unconscious gesture. It had only been a few days since Alice and Frank announced that they would be having a child, but they were both overjoyed. Behind the two couples stood Remus Lupin and Sirius Black who seemed to be having a serious conversation, but every so often Sirius would throw a longing glance towards the dining room area. Every one of those looks was followed by an amused look from his werewolf friend.

In the hallway between the two rooms stood Alastor Moody and Rubeus Hagrid who were discussing ways to protect the students at Hogwarts without alerting Voldemort or the Death Eaters. It was a conversation often repeated between the members of the Order and as a result, the school was still very well protected from any outside attack. The final three people present were Fabian and Gideon Prewett and Dorcas Meadowes. At the moment, they were all sitting around the dining room table and shaking with laughter.

"- and then before Molly could do anything, the twins jumped out. George grabbed on to her legs and Fred grabbed her wand-" said Gideon.

"I have no idea how they do it. They are not even two years old yet!" continued Fabian, chuckling.

"-so Molly reaches out to grab him, and the next thing we know she is floating around the ceiling and the boys are nowhere to be found." laughed Gideon.

"Took as a good twenty minutes to find them too." finished Fabian and all three of them fell on the table laughing.

Dorcas was wiping tears of laughter from her eyes when a silvery phoenix flew gracefully through the window and landed on the table in front of them. It opened its beak and spoke in the calm voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"I'm am arriving in two minutes. Do not be alarmed." It vanished in a cloud of wispy smoke.

Everyone got up from their seats and gathered around the table. Just as they were finding their seats the intruder alarm went off. James silenced it with a flick of his wand and a few seconds later they heard a knock on the door. He made sure Lily was comfortable and walked to the front door.

"Who is it?"

"It is I, Albus Dumbledore." the headmaster replied solemnly and James opened the door, admitting him into the house. After greetings and holiday wishes were exchanged, everyone settled down to begin the meeting. Dumbledore took his seat at the head of the table and began.

"I am aware many of our members are not available today, but as several of you are due to go on missions after the year ends I thought it would be prudent to go over our plans. Why don't we start with Remus." Dumbledore nodded toward the young werewolf, giving him the floor as somewhere in the house a clock struck six.

"Well," he began "it wasn't easy but-"

**BOOM!**


	2. Magical Manuscript

**A/N: Thank you! _Thank _you all for your favorites and alerts! They encourage me to write so much faster!**

**Also, a special thank you to everyone who reviewed anonymously since I could not respond to you personally! Your words mean the world to me. I believe that any questions you have asked will be answered in this chapter.**

**Happy Reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable Harry Potter plots or characters.**

**BOOM!**

A bright flash of light accompanied by a thunderous booming sound echoed through the dining room interrupting Remus as he was beginning his tale.

Chaos ensued. Even though they were slightly blinded by the bright light, everyone jumped to their feet and instinctively pulled out their wands -or in Hagrid's case turned his chair into a pile of matchsticks and pulled out his flowery pink umbrella- and turned to face the windows and doors. James was trying to shield a thoroughly annoyed-looking Lily with his body while she tried to look at the door from behind her shoulder to defend herself from the unknown attacker. Sirius and Remus jumped and pointed their wands at each other before realising that neither was at fault while Moody sent half a dozen hexes toward the empty living room.

Frank, as one of the only people in the room that was an actual Auror and not a trainee followed suit, but instead of jinxes he fired a shielding charm. Alice and Dorcas also put up shields while backing up toward the wall to avoid anyone ambushing them from behind.

Gideon and Fabian had a similar reaction to Sirius and Remus, but quickly took cover behind the buffet table and shielded each other as they looked for potential Death Eaters.

Albus, who had spotted the source of the commotion first, simply raised his wand and let out a series of loud gun blasts that made everyone instantly stop.

A few seconds later, all of their eyes fall on... a roll of parchment? All the occupants of the room were stunned for a moment, staring at what was unmistakably a very old, very worn-looking piece of parchment. The edges of the yellowing paper were torn and frayed. The bottom was slightly curled inwardly but the rest lay flat on the table as if someone had kept it unrolled for a long period of time.

After the loud, resounding sound and the yells, the silence that ensued was deafening as they all continued to warily stare at the parchment. Nobody seemed to want to be the first to approach it. Moody looked like he was about to blast it to bits and Dumbledore slowly stared at each of them in turn as if he was trying to verify that it wasn't a clever prank set up by one of them. With so many pranksters in the room -namely the Marauders and the Prewetts- it wasn't an unlikely possibility, but the looks of shock and apprehension on their faces were genuine.

As they stood there, a few lines of unfamiliar writing ghosted across the page and the group leaned closer to read.

_Dear Albus, Alastor, Frank, Alice, Remus, Rubeus, Gideon, Fabian, Dorcas, Sirius, James and Lily._

_Hello everyone! We know that all of you are confused, apprehensive and brimming with questions so why don't you go ahead and ask so we can get on. To ask a question touch your wand to the parchment while you are speaking. _

"Can we trust it, Albus?" asked Lily anxiously, gaining a smile from the Headmaster.

"I don't know Lily-" started Fabian.

"-you know what they say." continued his brother.

"Never trust anything that can think for itself-"

"-if you can't see where it keeps its brain."

"It can't be trusted," barked Moody giving the brothers an approving glance. "We can't know where it came from, Albus, what if it is a Death Eater trap? It seems like the kind of thing they would do. I bet there is a compulsion charm on the paper so while we are all occupied they can get the jump on us," he continued still eyeing the surrounding area with a watchful eye.

"Thank you, Alastor. I am aware of that," said Albus while silently twirling his wand in a complicate fashion over the parchment. Everyone watched him apprehensively and after a couple of minutes he stood up straight and addressed them.

"I cannot find anything malicious about it though it contains several powerful spells, most of which seem to have come from myself."

"You know what it is then, Dumbledore?" asked Dorcas in a curious tone.

"Quite the opposite, Miss Meadowes. I have never seen this parchment before in my life, but I am certain of two things. Firstly, it appears to have come here from sometime in the future and secondly, we can trust it." replied the Headmaster.

"Are quite sure, Professor?" asked Remus, voicing his question for everyone.

"Yes, Remus. You see this piece of parchment is not unlike the Sorting Hat in a way. It has been imbibed with the personality of three people, one of which is myself."

There was a stunned silence broken by the identical voices of the twin Prewetts.

"Awesome!" they chorused breaking into identical grins. "Is that something you can show us, sir?"

The Marauders all grinned and exchanged sly glances, knowing that if Dumbledore couldn't show them, they most certainly could. After all, they had used that particular spell on the Marauder's Map.

"Later, perhaps," Dumbledore answered, his bright blue eyes twinkling. "Now, shall we ask my future self what this is all about?" Without waiting for a reply he touched his wand to the parchment. "What is the purpose of sending this parchment here? What is it that you wish to achieve?"

The unfamiliar writing began once more on the parchment below the previous text. Dumbledore bent closer and began to read out loud.

_Now that you have performed the spells that reveal at least one of the persons behind this we hope that you will try to keep an open mind._

Dumbledore chuckled. Of course I would know what I would do. The rest of the occupants of the room looked a little cautious at that warning, but continued to stare avidly at the parchment.

_What we have sent you is called a Magical Manuscript and it is one of a kind. It was designed to record the story of a boy whose life is key in the fight against Voldemort. The Manuscript was created by Professor Dumbledore and imbibed with a bit of his personality, as well as the personality of a Muggle author, who was used to create a more pleasant and easy reading. The final person whose personality was imbibed into this Manuscript is the boy himself whose name we will not disclose at the moment._

_We want you to read this story in an effort to change the future for the better. In our timeline, Voldemort has been defeated,-_

A few gasps followed this sentence, but Dumbledore continued to read over the many exclamations that were beginning to form.

_-but at a very high cost. Many innocent lives that it is now possible to save were lost and the Wizarding world was left in pieces. Meddling with time is generally something we are against, but the cost of this cannot be higher than that of the war. To give an example, everyone but one person currently in that room are either dead or incapacitated in our time._

_Everyone in this room was chosen because they have an important role to play in one way or another in the war. There are many other people who we could invite to join you, but we thought it inadvisable to let too many people know about the future._

_We know that it is a difficult decision and that you are all probably against it right not, but we urge you to at least read the first chapter before you decide. If you do not wish to read the rest after that then you can let us know. The Manuscript contains a Memory charm that will erase everything that has occurred since it arrived and will allow you to proceed with your meeting as if nothing happened._

_If you wish to continue reading, then you will be transported into Hogwarts to the Room of Requirement to read the rest. For those who are not aware, the Room of Requirement is a magical room on the seventh floor of Hogwarts that tranforms itself in accordance to the seekers needs. We apologise, but you will not be able to exit the room until you have finished, so it is advisable to deal with anything you might need such as work and your families before you leave. _

_Also, four time travellers from our time will be joining you. All them -just like all of you- had an important role to play in the future and they will be able to help you understand some things better. _

When Dumbledore finished reading he looked up with troubled eyes. It was basically what he had expected ever since the Manuscript arrived in the room, but it as a hard decision to make. Meddling with time was against not only the law, but the most basic Wizarding rules. It was not to be attempted under any circumstances, but what if it was guaranteed to have a better outcome than the original timeline? Could they be responsible for something like that?

Similar thoughts were going through the minds of everyone in the room. The Prewetts and the marauders were certain that although it was generally inadvisable to mess with time, if it could help prevent the deaths of many people, could it really be bad? They might seem like superficial jokesters most of the time, but they all fought for what they thought was right. Wasn't that why they joined the Order of the Phoenix? To help stop Voldemort and prevent any more innocent people from losing their lives? They were handed a way to do that, so why couldn't they take advantage of it?

Lily and Alice, who both worked as Unspeakables were thinking of possible repercussions that this could have other than saving lives. What if everything spiralled out of control? After all, one small change could alter absolutely everything, but there was no guarantee that all the results would be for good. For all they knew, they could be creating a second Voldemort with their actions.

Hagrid felt that if there was any way to save even one life, then they should try. What they would read could change everything, but if one of the people that were dead in the future could be saved, then, wasn't it worth the risk?

On the other hand, Moody was still feeling like this was a bad idea. Nobody should mess with time. Nobody. They should just send the blasted manuscript where it came from and deal with the problems as they came. They said Voldemort was dead, didn't they? Well, then, they shouldn't mess with a good thing.

Dorcas wasn't sure what to think. Time was something that she knew they shouldn't be bothering, but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder why the people from the future wanted them to read the first chapter. What was written there that could persuade them to continue reading? It would have to be something extremely shocking or unexpected. Did she want to chance it? Knowing that the curiosity in some of the people in the room would never allow them to stop after that? It was a big risk but she couldn't help but trust the feeling she had that everything would be all right after this.

"What are we going to do?" asked Remus.

"I think we should at least read the first chapter before we decide. It should give us enough information to see if we want to change what happened." said Dorcas before anyone else could voice their opinions.

Several people were nodding while Dumbledore just observed them over his half-moon spectacles serenely, but Moody shook his head vehemently and shouted.

"No! We will not be meddling with time. Think about what you are about to do!"

"Mad-Eye, relax. We are only going to be reading the first chapter for now and if we decide that we don't think it is worth it then we can always stop and have our memories erased after that." said Frank, trying to soothe his fellow Auror.

"Don't you think that whoever sent us this will have already thought about that? That the _Dumbledore_ in the future would have thought about it and made sure it would be okay?" asked James while Hagrid nodded fervently.

"Very astute, Potter, but since we know that only one of us is alive and able in the future how do you know that it is even Dumbledore who sent us this? It could have been anyone who found this contraption of Dumbledore's and they didn't think it through." growled Moody.

"Who, other than us, would know to send it to this specific meeting? They addressed everyone in the room by name and didn't miss or greet anyone extra. Not to mention that even if Dumbledore is dead -a thought that I don't even want to entertain as it would be horrible for everyone- he would have a portrait in the Headmaster's office that is more than capable of assisting people to do the right thing. I think we should read all of it," said Sirius.

"Thank you, Sirius," said Dumbledore and everyone who was beginning to talk immediately quieted. "I, too, feel that we should read this entire story, but if someone is not yet convinced we can certainly read the first chapter before we come to a final decision."

"Very well, I see that I am outnumbered in this. But mark my words, there is something fishy going on with this." growled Moody as he took his seat between Frank and Gideon with ill grace. James and Sirius exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes at their boss before sitting down and like everyone else turned to face the Magical Manuscript.


End file.
